


Just a Bloody Dream

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:22:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27652691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Will dreams of Hannibal, dreams of a future where Hannibal keeps sending him bloody valentines, wanting Will at his side. Will cannot join him, his conscience forbids it, yet he’s happier with Hannibal than he’s ever been…but is his conscience the true reason they’re at odds?
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter





	Just a Bloody Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the second season. Perhaps it’s on the train in Contorno. Will himself isn’t sure. I don’t own Hannibal but for months it has owned me.

I drifted off, hearing the sound of a faint pulse, a vibration. It promised home. It promised safety. Neither of these promises could be relied on. It was Hannibal’s heart, Hannibal’s presence, something which lingered on every mutilated corpse he displayed.

More than a few had been deliberately left for me. Perhaps Hannibal wanted me to associate comfort with corpses. 

Speaking of Hannibal, he stood before me in the darkness. If I gazed at him for too long, I’d see the table laid before him; a fantastical display of leaves, feathers, and skull adorning steaming platters. As always Hannibal was meticulously dressed, his dark eyes filled with deceptive gentleness as they lingered upon me.

“Good evening, Will.”

“Good evening, Dr. Lecter.” I’d called him by his first name in the darkness, in moments of dreadful, tender privacy but I shied from casual use. It wasn’t casual. It was never casual. 

“Did you get my valentine?” He allowed his eyes to glide over me; face, neck, torso, drifting down to my waist, lingering below the waist, not neglecting my legs and feet before raising them slowly upward. He inspected every inch of me, even my shoes as if they were of interest. 

“I got it.” I tried not stare at his shoulder, tried not to think of the walking heart stag, or any of the other corpses arranged to tantalize me, draw me in. 

“None of the materials I used were innocent. Every single one of them reminded me of you.” He spoke as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “If I had the actual you at my side, no one would have to die.”

“I can’t be what you want me to be, Hannibal.” I’d barely been here and his first name had slipped out of my mouth. “I wish to save lives, not take them.”

“And yet you’ve enjoyed it every time you’ve taken life.” He circled the table, coming toward me with slow, measured steps. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Will.”

“Isn’t it?” I didn’t back away. I stood my ground as he came for me. “I took certain vows I mean to uphold.”

“You’ve seen for yourself just how well your superiors uphold them.” He stopped only inches from me. “You’re no better or worse than any of them.”

“I feel corrupt.” I bowed my head but allowed him to reach out and touch me. “I want what I do, what I represent to mean something good.” 

“Here I thought you’ve abadoned notions of good and evil.” He stroked my temples with tenderness I can no longer doubt. “Why do you still allow them to haunt you?”

“Remember when you once spoke of ideals?” I leaned my face into his touch. “For me, an ideal isn’t a person. It’s a state of being, a concept, one we can never achieve, but should never stop striving for.”

“Which is why you let Jack manipulate you.” He sighed, pressed his forehead against mine. “You should return to me as your patient if nothing else. You’re struggling, Will. You’re struggling and no one will understand the weight of what you struggle against more than I.”

I press a hand over his. “We’re at odds, Hannibal, even if I’m happier with you than with anyone else.”

“As always, you make me wait.” He pressed his lips to my brow. “Have you ever considered I might be a better man with you at my side?”

“I’ve considered it,” I whispered against his skin. “I’m not arrogant enough to think I change you. I’m not sure if you’d still want me if you did change.”

“The truth emerges.” He leaned back to regard me, holding my face in his warm hands. “You’re afraid if you came to me, changed me any more than you already have, you’d lose me.”

I shut my eyes to this. I couldn’t be that selfish. Could I?

Yes, I could be. That was the true horror of it. 

“Fine, I’ll play your games until you yourself tire of them. Until you come to me.” Once more he pressed his lips to my brow. “Sleep well, Will.”

I opened my eyes, feeling the wetness leak out of them, hearing the train shaking around me. 

I’m alone. He’s not here. It was just another dream. Just a bloody dream. 

It's frightening how much I long for it to be real.

**Author's Note:**

> The conversation about good and evil took place in Naka Choko. The discussion of ideals was in Mizumono. The valentine was in Primavera, although Hannibal actually first killed for Will in the pilot if you think about it...


End file.
